GAINESVILLE, Georgia — The SCAD Women's Swim team maintained their first place lead coming off Friday to win the fourth annual Brenau University Invitational. The competition was held in Gainesville, Georgia, located roughly an hour northeast of Atlanta near Lake Lanier.
The final scores were based on the results of 36 events split between Friday night and Saturday morning and afternoon. The endurance of the swimmers was proven in team relays and individual medleys, said Head Coach Chris Conlon.
"I am very proud of the efforts of our swimmers," he said. "We've just come out of a very busy fall of training and the swimmers have just finished their final exams for the quarter. We had some injuries, but teammates stepped up and had great swims with lots of new national cuts."
Women's team excels, earning approximately 1000 points
Saturday saw several new victories added to list of wins for the SCAD Women's Swim team at the invite. Samantha Benson, Caroline Lepesant, Emma McKinley and Haley Thompson dominated the Women's 800 Yard Free Relay event with a total combined time of 8:04.04, placing first. Lepesant later earned first place in the challenging Women's 1650 Yard Freestyle event.
In the Women's 200 Yard Free Individual, Thompson swam to third place with a time of 2:00.61, while Woody and Benson both tied for second in the Women's 100 Yard Free, sharing the clock at 55.21. McKinley earned third in the Women's 200 Yard Fly with 2:12.36.
Later, in the Women's 400 Yard Free Relay, the team of Benson, Lepesant, Thompson and Julie Woody swam a 3:43.31, earning another first place triumph. The second SCAD team of Shannon Brouk, Shannon Cummings, Heather Dundey and Heather Partlow swam to 3:46.13, earning third.
Friday night victories
On Friday, SCAD's Dundey, Lepesant, Meagan McManus and Edan Scott swam the best time of 1:40:84 in the Women's 200 Yard Free Relay event. The second SCAD team of Cummings, Partlow, Thompson and Woody followed quickly behind and earned second with a total time of 1:40.88.
In the Women's 400 Yard Medley Relay event, a team of Lepesant, McKinley, Alle Ragland and Woody earned third place with a total time of 4:11.10. Lepesant also secured a first place finish in the individual Women's 500 Yard Frees event with a total time of 5:07.34, while teammate Emma McKinley secured third place with a time of 5:18.78.
In the 50 Yard Freestyle event, Scott placed second with 25.05 and Woody came in just behind with a 25.08 for third place. In the Women's 200 Yard Medley Relay, Cummings, Dundey, Ragland and Woody worked together to secure second place with a time of 1:53.82.
Congratulations to the women's team! Their total scores from all the events added up to 1,000.50, well above second place Brenau University (631.50) and third place Lindsey Wilson College (456). Go Bees!
